Eternal Night
by DigimonDragonLady
Summary: Okay...I guess you'd call this a song fic, yeah, I think. Its done to the Savage Garden song "Crash and Burn". Its about Ken...the rating, well I'm not really sure about...its suicidal so if you don't like that kind of thing then don't read it. Reviews ar


Ken stood unmoving on the balcony outside of his room staring at the sunset. The last of the golden glow was fading in a brilliant display of orange, pink and dusky purple. _'How beautiful,' _he sighed in contentment. _'And what a fitting end to a long and weary day.'_

Normally Minomon was there with him watching as the day's glory sank into the coming darkness. _'The darkness is stronger now,'_ he shivered. _'It comes in quickly to cover whatever light and good there is left, now it is at its peak.'_ He almost wished he had Minomon as company, but he shouldn't be there now. _'Not on the last sunset,'_ he thought sadly.

Ken had left Minomon with Yolei, he hadn't explained why, just simply asked Yolei to take care of his digimon while he was unable to. She had been somewhat suspicious, but had agreed to watch him.

_'I'll miss you Minomon, my one true friend…' _Ken looked down. The streets were deserted now, no more people wandering back and forth, they had all gone home to their respective families. 

There came a knock at Ken's bedroom door. He jumped slightly in surprise as the unexpected noise brought him out of his trance. "Ken dear," it was his mother. "Ken dinner's on the table." He didn't answer, only resumed his downward gaze. From the other side of the door there was a brief silence, then, "Okay Ken, you're busy. Just come and eat when you feel like it."

Ken sighed. _'Now, if I'm going to do this I should do it now,'_ he thought, but hesitated. _'I wish there were some other way…but I hate this darkness that I feel. Its so black and cold and evil, it never leaves me, never retreats from the day's light. Why do I feel only emptiness inside, where is the kindness they tell me I posses?'_

Ken closed his eyes in sudden pain. _'Gone, the kindness is gone…covered by the cruelty and hate. I _**MUST**_ do this now, to save people from the disease of evil that I carry with me.'_

He entered his room and slowly…slowly began to drag a chair from his computer desk across the floor to the balcony rail…

* * * 

Minomon was restless, he was constantly bouncing around the bed. Yolei was attempting to read a story to her digimon Poromon and Ken's quiet withdrawn digimon. She paused a brief moment in her reading and looked over at him in concern. 'I guess Ken doesn't read to him, his so jittery…' "Hey Minomon, is something wrong?"

He gave her a miserable look. "I don't know!"

"Well you've been awful jumpy all evening…I don't know…" She frowned. "Why did Ken want you to stay with me anyway…must have been something terribly important, but he didn't explain…"

Minomon shook his tiny head helplessly. "He wouldn't say, I told him that whatever it was I didn't want to leave him, but he was so insistent…and firm about it that nothing I said worked. He just seemed very depressed. He…he told me he just couldn't deal with me tonight," the last remark made Minomon sigh sadly and it struck Yolei as very odd. Ken was extremely careful in treating his digimon well now after what he had put Wormmon through as the Emperor.

"That doesn't sound like something Ken would say," she mused. Minomon, who had ceased listening to her, gave a sudden little gasp, as if in pain. His eyes went wide and he began to tremble and cry.

"No Ken!" he wailed pitifully. "Don't leave me!"

Yolei panicked. "Oh my god, what's happening?"

"Ken's in trouble!" he sobbed heart wrenchingly.

Yolei made up her mind quickly, she grabbed her bag off the floor and gathered Poromon and Minomon up in her arms. She raced as fast as she could out of the apartment, not even stopping to tell her shell shocked parents where she was headed. She didn't waste a minute in getting to the Ichijouji apartment building.

She grasped the seriousness of the situation from Minomon's wracking sobs and seemed to understand what was happening with Ken. She inquired for the Ichijouji apartment number at the desk and the manager behind it looked at her with suspicion. She was informed that the Ichijouji's didn't like giving out their location in the apartment to strangers.

"Please," Yolei begged. "I'm no stranger, I'm a good friend of Ken's and this is extremely urgent!" After several seconds of indecision which nearly killed Yolei the clerk finally gave in and released the information. Yolei practically flew up the stairs to his fourth floor apartment and banged on the door, hoping and praying that she would be in time…

* * *

Ken climbed unsteadily unto the chair, it wobbled slightly beneath him and he put out his arms to balance himself. _'Its really not such a long way down,'_ he attempted to reassure himself. _'It will all be over quickly.'_

He took another long look at the world around him, the familiar room in which he had spent half his life in study or in thought. "Good bye world," he whispered. It was the first time he had spoken in over an hour. In the back of his mind he was half aware of someone knocking at the apartment door, but he dismissed it as unimportant of his attention at the present moment. He might never have the courage it required to do this again…

* * *

Yolei waited impatiently for someone to open the door. _'Oh for God's sake hurry up!' _She could hear a shuffling of feet…someone was coming, but slowly…too slowly. The door was opened and Mrs. Ichijouji stood there with a quizzical look on her face upon seeing Yolei. It was like she had been prepared to be angry. "Um…yes?" she asked tentatively.

"Please," Yolei gasped slightly out of breath. "We…I need to see Ken right away!"

Maybe this strange new fear of Yolei's was catching, Mrs Ichijouji lead her directly into the house where she didn't even bother to kick off her shoes at the door, there was no time at the present for manners. She took her down the hall to what Yolei assumed was Ken's bedroom, they were joined by Ken's father. 

"What's going on here?" he asked looking suspiciously at Yolei. Ken's mother merely shook her head and held his hand firmly with her own, she was rather pale and nervous now.

"Oh dear God don't let me be too late," she prayed quietly under her breath, but the Ichijouji's caught every word. "Ken?" she called loudly. "Ken, its Yolei, open the door please Ken!"

When there wasn't any response she became frantic. "Ken listen to me, please don't do anything….think about it! Ken!" She flung herself against the door in a panic.

* * *

Ken was aware of the people outside his bedroom door shouting to him. His parents, and someone else…Yolei! He hesitated as he stood on the balcony rail looking at the sidewalk below. _'No,' _he thought. _'I'm doing this to save them…probably the three people I love most in the entire world…'_ but he could feel his resolve weakening. There was a loud crack as the door behind him burst open…

* * *

Yolei threw herself against the door again, and to her amazement it opened. Minomon and Poromon went flying out of her arms and landed on the floor, but Yolei didn't have time to worry about them. Her breath caught in her throat when she looked around the room and saw Ken standing on the balcony rail looking at the ground below him.

"Oh no Ken don't!" she cried.

Ken's mother, who had entered the room behind her, gave a dry sob and pleaded. "Oh Ken, please come down son!"

Ken turned and looked at them. _'He looks so lost and confused,' _Yolei almost broke into tears just looking at the pain in his amazing indigo eyes. _'And so very alone…I don't understand why I didn't see it before now…'_ She drew cautiously nearer until she was on the balcony with him, Minomon and Poromon had followed her.

"Please don't do this Ken," she begged him softly. "There are better ways…"

Ken shook his head helplessly. "No, there is no better way to get rid of this darkness…this emptiness that I feel inside me. I've hurt so many people, and the pain will never go away…I just can't live with it anymore." He trembled slightly. "What else could I do?"

"We can just talk about it Ken, you can tell me how you feel, you don't have to be alone all the time."

* Cue Digivolving Sequence *

Poromon digivolve to….Hawkmon!

"It won't work Yolei," he said sadly and a single tear trickled down his cheek. "But…I'm so scared…I don't want to die Yolei."

"Then don't, come down Ken," she coaxed gently, thinking she was almost getting through to him, she offered him her hand. "I'll find a way to help you, whatever it is, I promise I will."

Ken looked down at her outstretched hand and Yolei saw in him a longing, and she was sure she had reached him. But he looked away. "I can't," he shut his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He let his body just relax and leaned forward slightly. Even this small movement was enough to carry him over the edge. Yolei's heart jumped up in her chest in anguish.

"Noooo!" she screamed with tears flowing freely down her face. She ran to the edge and threw herself off only seconds behind Ken…

* * *

****

* _When you feel all alone_

And the world has turned its back on you

Give me a moment please

To tame your wild, wild heart *****

Yolei closed her eyes tightly, she couldn't bare to watch the ground rushing up at her. _'Oh please don't let me be too late to save Ken…'_ a voice in her head screamed.

****

* _I know you feel_

Like the walls are closing in on you

Its hard to find relief

And people can be so cold *****

_'Save Ken?' _another voice dripping with sarcasm screamed back. _'You can't save anyone now, you're going to die!'_

****

* _When darkness is upon your door_

And you feel like you can't take anymore *****

* Cue Digivolving Sequence *

Hawkmon warp digivolve to….NightPhoenixmon!

****

* _Let me be the one you call_

If you jump I'll break your fall

Lift you up and fly away with you into the night *****

Yolei felt a swiftness go through the air around her. It was like flying grace, but she didn't dare open her eyes for fear of what she might see. Then in the next second as her fall was speeding up for the last stretch of air she landed on something downy and soft.

****

* _If you need to fall apart_

I can mend a broken heart

If you need to crash

Then crash and burn you're not alone *****

The wind rushed through Yolei's hair as she sat up slowly opening her eyes. She was seated on the back of a giant bird, and Ken was sitting beside her looking dazed and bemused. Her heart was singing with joy now, he was okay! And she realized in that moment why she jumped. _'I just couldn't live without him…I love him, and I will always be there for him.'_

****

* _When you feel all alone_

And a loyal friend is hard to find

You call it a one way street

With the monsters in your head *****

NightPhoenixmon took them high up into the air, Yolei could see the Ichijouji's staring up at them in shock from their spot on the balcony, as well as other neighbors who had moved out to witness the miraculous event. The people below them grew smaller and smaller as they moved higher above them. They were flying far above the city now and could see the twinkling lights of traffic and homes. While down below on ground level it looked so jammed and cluttered from their aerial view it was magnificent.

****

* _When hopes and dreams are far away_

And you feel like you can't face the day *****

NightPhoenixmon was taking them down again and landed in the middle of the road in front of Ken's apartment building. By this time a large crowd had gathered on the sidewalk and watched the giant bird and the two teenagers in wonder and awe. Yolei and Ken both managed to somehow stumble off the digimon's back. Yolei was once again standing on solid ground, for which she was eternally grateful. She stroked her digimon's feathery neck as if she were in some kind of dream. "Your so beautiful," she told him and he craned his neck in appreciation of her touch.

****

* _Let me be the one you call_

If you jump I'll break your fall

Lift you up and fly away with you into the night

If you need to fall apart

I can mend a broken heart

If you need to crash

Then crash and burn you're not alone *****

_'How could something so pure belong with me?'_ Yolei marveled as she drank in his appearance, continuing to stroke him. NightPhoenixmon was a snowy white from his head almost to the tips of his wings where a light lavender turned and faded gradually to a dusky purple. His head frill was a deep violet as well as his tail feathers and Yolei could see golden stars strung through his magnificent tail on silver hairs.

She was reluctant to let him go, he was just so breathtaking. For one more glorious instant he held his regal pose before dedigivolving back into Poromon. Yolei picked up her tiny, in-training digimon and held him close to her. "You did a great job," she whispered. "You saved us…thank you." Then she gently deposited him back on the ground before turning to Ken. He looked like someone had just thrown a bucket of cold ice water all over him.

****

* _'Cause there has always been heartache and pain_

And when its over you'll breathe again

You'll breathe again *****

Yolei reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him closer. She wrapped her arms around him and held him to her. Ken just broke down and sobbed into her shoulder. The people around them on all sides stepped back, now slightly afraid of them, but Yolei never said a word, only let Ken cry until he had no more tears left.

****

* _When you feel all alone_

And the world has turned its back on you

Give me a moment please

To tame your wild, wild heart *****


End file.
